The Deal with The Grapes
by Gothic Phoenix
Summary: After HBP. I'm trying out some new pairings, new ideas. Basically there's alot of blood so, just to warn you.
1. Chapter 1

Harry stood staring out into the dark night. He couldn't stop thinking about how horrible his life was. Things were so jumbled, he didn't know where to begin. After Dumbledore's death, the whole summer fiasco with trying to keep him inside Grimwauld Place, which only served to piss him royally off and then coming back to find Draco Malfoy still there was almost too much for him. Draco had come to Headmistress McGonagall and begged for protection. She had granted him what he asked and so Draco was placed in a private dorm room for the entire summer at Hogwarts while everyone was trying to decide on whether to keep the school open or not. Finally it was decided to keep it open, for the sake of keeping hope alive. The numbers of children were smaller but in the end, everything was on a wobbly pedestal, he was just waiting for the slightly strong breeze to come along and knock everything off.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Hermione murmured behind him. Harry sighed, he never got time alone anymore. At least it was her instead of one of the teachers or Ron. At least she kept quiet when he needed her to be. She never tried to cheer him up or show her worry over him.

"Yeah, cold but beautiful," Harry went back to looking out over those perfect silver spots in the sky.

"I'm surprised some of the Slytherins are even still here," Hermione commented after a while.

"We all know Draco Malfoy's deal," Harry grumbled, looking down on his hands.

"I meant Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini…Crabbe and Goyle have left completely but it seems they weren't Malfoy's companions at all. Those two seemed to be glued as permanent body guards to Malfoy now," Hermione explained.

"Yeah, noticed Parkinson's changes to?" Harry smirked to himself. Hermione rolled her eyes. Pansy had come back with short tightly curled hair and for some reason her pug face wasn't so dog like…it was almost pretty. Hermione shook her head.

"Look, Harry it's freezing out here, can we go back to the common room?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, you probably have a lot of Head Girl duties to attend to without babysitting me," Harry turned to her. She looked away, she had pretty dark golden hair that flowed down over her shoulder, she looked very beautiful in a tragic sense.

"Stop playing the pity party card, it gets old," Hermione murmured, Harry crossed his arms.

"Then stop playing the protective older sister. Haven't I proved to everyone already that I can at least walk down the hall without a chaperon?" Harry growled.

"Then stop this," Hermion suddenly grabbed his arm and slid up his sleeve to reveal long jagged scars running down his arm with white bandages on his wrist from where they had last caught him.

"Low blow," He pulled his arm away from her and hurriedly slid his clothing down.

"Look, we can argue all night but it won't accomplish anything. Why don't you just come with me down to my room. I'll make you some of that jasmine tea that you like so much," Hermione gestured to the door leading down from the Astronomy tower. Harry sighed and stepped past her.

Hermione couldn't stop staring at the broken mirror before her. Blood smeared over some of the shattered pieces. She looked down onto the blood smeared sink then over at the pile of bloody towels sitting on the counter next to her. She then pushed away from the counter and grabbed a roll of bandages and started wrapping up her fingers. She was snarling without realizing it. She then slammed the door behind her and walked over to her bed. There was a knock on her door and she looked over.

"Come in," she answered finally. Draco Malfoy slowly cracked the door and put his head through. He was named Head Boy along with her.

"I heard your door slam, are you alright?" He asked, his ice gray eyes roaming over the disorganized room and then over to her. She was hiding her hands in among her bedspread.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," she said, staring at him until he shrugged and shut the door quietly behind him. He wasn't what she had expected. He was nice and respectful since the beginning of their seventh year. Like at any moment she would suddenly scream at him, blaming him for Dumbledore's death. In some ways he did expect it. She could tell when he would try to blend in with the wallpaper in classes or in the lunch room. He was completely different from the person she knew and somehow she knew this was the real him. The him that lay underneath all the cocky bullshit pureblood masks. This was a boy just as scared, lonely and fucked up as she was.

She slowly got up from her bed and walked over to her door. She caressed the wood then laid her hand on the shiny silver knob, debating on whether to go out there and talk to him. In the end she turned and went back to her bed. She had homework to do and Harry to check on. It was her night and he had a tendency to roam, even when she brought him back from the Astronomy tower. He had stayed with her, doing an essay for potions before finally calling it a night and walking back to the Gryffindor common room.

Draco stood on the otherside of the door. Staring at it for a while. He wanted to walk back in and tell her, he heard her scream, the shattering of glass. Heard her sobs, but he couldn't. There was something dangerous between them. Something that spelt trouble. He didn't want her to start screaming at him and then do something horrible like try and kill him. He always felt this pent up rage within her ever since they got back to school. There was a whole lot of melancholy from Harry Potter but Ron Weasley was the hardest to figure out. He was always a mix of emotions, like the boy walked around being complicated. One day he would be content and happy, the next livid or sad or crazy or hyper…he never stuck with one emotion for long and it drove Draco crazy to even be around the kid. It never used to be this way. Before last year, it was a lot easier to block everyone else out of his head. He was trained to do that but after Dumbledore's death, it was like all his training went out the window. He had been an empath, a person who could feel other people's feelings since before he could remember and his father had gotten a personal tutor to help him.

He walked back to his room and slowly closed the door behind him. Hermione was a lot different than he had thought. She was so…grown up. Her emotions were had the feeling of a much older person, she also protected everyone around her. But her biggest down fall was her rage, she felt so angry but she never showed it to anyone. He laid down on his bed and put his hands behind he head then stared up at the ceiling. He slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep…

_Draco looked around the dark Forbidden Forest, the moon was shining full above him. He slowly walked forward, noises were up ahead. He stopped just before entering a clearing and froze. In the center was a woman with a man on top of her. They were completely naked and kissing passionately. The man had black hair that covered his face and ivory skin. He had his hands braced so he wouldn't crush the woman underneath him. The woman slid her leg up and wrapped it around the guy's waist, pulling them flush together. She moaned deeply as they started moving against eachother._

_"Stop," Draco whispered, suddenly the two froze and turned towards him. Draco suddenly recognized them. The woman moved out from underneath the other and walked towards him. Her heavy breasts caught his attention as she stopped before him._

_"Join us Draco, you know you want to," she reached up to his face, the man was next to her, an arm wrapped around her waist._

_"Please," he asked, Draco shook his head._

_"I'm sorry, Hermione, Harry…I can't," Draco answered them._

Draco gasped awaked, sitting up on his bed. Sunlight was streaming in from his windows and lit up his room. He shook his head and rubbed at his face. He did not just have a wet dream about those two. What next? A foursome with the golden Trio? Hell no. Draco hopped off his bed and went over to his closet. He had forgotten to change out of his clothes last night so he grabbed some new clothes and walked over to his bathroom for a shower. They looked like two greek gods in that moonlit dream, he shook his head again, trying to not think about what he had just dreamed but it was so hard to do so. He turned on the cold water and looked into his mirror at his own face. He then looked down on his pale, exposed arms. He was very closely watched over the summer by the people living in Hogwarts but he would sometimes escape down to the lake where no one would know and that is how he got the long thin lines running down the insides of his arms where a Dark Mark should be but only held pale scarred skin. He turned to the shower and slowly got in.

Ron huddled in the corner of his dorm room, staring down at his toes, they were nice toes, pretty toes. He picked a piece of dirt out from under one and flicked it away then leaned forward and turned a page in his charms textbook. He snapped his eyes up as Neville walked in.

"Are you going to go to bed tonight?" Neville asked him, stopping in the center of the room, looking at Ron.

"I don't feel tired," Ron said, Neville frowned darkly.

"You haven't slept in over a week…that's not very healthy," Neville pointed out.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," Ron said and went back to his textbook.

"Alright…" Neville finally turned to his bed and started getting ready to sleep.

Ron zoned out on the book, he let his eyes fall out of focus and his brain started to wander away to past memories when he and his best friends had so many fun adventures. So many things they did, so many great conquests and a drive to do something great. Now it seemed as if everything was falling apart. They had grown up around constant danger, always battling for their lives or for the lives of everyone they knew. It got to where Ron barely saw his friends as they used to be. Hermione never smiled, Harry flat out scared him and he had the sneaking suspicion that Blaise was trying to make friends with him. Blaise Zabini, the Slytherin, one of Draco Malfoy's best friends. He had tried to wrap his brain around that one when he had discovered it, now he just didn't care. He had more important things to worry about than a rust red head with a sultry look about him. Like his mind which he felt like he was loosing more and more of everyday. His family was being killed off and he lived in fear of more letters arriving with the worst news, someone else had died. Things were taking the turn for the worst out in the wizarding world while it seemed like a precarious, maddening peace had settled over Hogwarts. One that was shattered for him but was still calm. Like having a jumble of chaos all around you but the center was simple and clear.

"Thought you would still be awake," Harry spoke up, Ron blinked, looking up at the other.

"Hey snappers, how's the deal with the grapes going?' Ron asked, Harry smiled over at the other.

"Fine, how's your homework?" Harry asked. Ever since the summer, Ron couldn't talk like normal, he didn't like it.

"Snazzin," He replied and turned another page. At least Harry understood him, most times.

"I'll leave you to it then. Have a good night," Harry murmured and kissed Ron's forehead before getting up and walking over to his bed. Ron felt tears well up in his eyes but he quickly pushed them away, this wasn't the time for theatrics.

Blaise looked up as Draco walked into his room and flopped down on the bed.

"I had a dream last night," Draco announced, staring up at the ceiling.

"Did it have a naked hot and bothered couple in it?" Blaise murmured, going back to his homework.

"Actually it did, how did you know?" Draco sat up to look over at his best friend.

"Just a guess," Blaise replied.

"It was Hermione and Harry," Draco said, Blaise frowned, looking over at the other.

"Are you alright? Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?" Blaise asked, Draco looked over at him, the red head smiled back.

"I don't know why I dreamt that, maybe it's because their emotions have become so clear to me lately. They all seem so wrapped up in their own selves, they don't want to understand anything around them except their own pain," Draco explained, Blaise shrugged.

"They are the most put upon out of everyone here," Blaise pointed out.

"They are also the most sheltered. They are here instead of out there on the front lines, fighting for all wizarding kind against…The Dark Lord," Draco gestured out with his arm.

"We all made our choices early on. You made yours, I made mine, Harry Potter and company made theirs. You chose the middle ground, the only ground you had open to you. To survive you couldn't exactly join him no matter how much you want to. I know you want to just shed everything and be normal but we aren't in normal times Draco…we are here and we're making the best of it," Blaise replied, Draco sighed and leaned back on the bed again.

"I can only tell you that you're not alone," Blaise sat down next to the platinum blonde, Draco looked over at him.

"Thank you," Draco murmured, smiling slightly, Blaise returned it.

Pansy was walking down the hall to the library when something caught her eye. She stopped and back tracked, there through the window of a deserted classroom was Hermione sitting in the teacher's chair, wrapping up her fingers with a long black bandage. She slowly walked over and knocked lightly, Hermione looked up at her, puzzlement flowing over her face. Pansy waved and pointed to the handle, Hermione nodded and Pansy walked in.

"Hey," Pansy breathed, feeling very awkward.

"Hello, what do you want?" Hermione returned to wrapping up her knuckles and fingers.

"How did you get hurt?" Pansy asked, slowly walking towards the other.

"Just an accident, nothing serious," Hermione answered.

"You seem kind of in a bad mood lately, is there anything I could do? Listen maybe?" Pansy asked, sitting down at the desk right in front of the other.

"Like you would understand," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You could try me…I'm not all that bad of a listener. Contrary to my outward image of Slytherin badass…I'm not so insensitive," she smiled over at her, Hermione returned the smile but looked away as soon as she felt the smile touch her lips.

"Why are you talking to me?" Hermione asked.

"Why not? Things have been changing a lot around here if you haven't noticed. I know I don't know you very well but that can change if you want it to," Pansy offered.

"You're very different from what I imagined you to be," Hermione murmured, looking over at the blonde.

"Well I had a façade to uphold. It's a little different ever since my parents were killed. I don't have very many people lording over me anymore," Pansy explained.

"So all of that before was just an act?" Hermione put away her roll of bandages and cast a spell to hide the ones on her hands.

"Of course," Pansy replied.

"Then how do I know you're not just acting right now? To get information out of me?" Hermione asked, standing up and started gathering her things.

"Because Draco Malfoy didn't kill Dumbledore," Pansy said, Hermione looked up at the girl, she smiled in return. "We may be very mysterious and ambiguous people Ms. Granger but we aren't evil. We'll leave that up to the Dark Lord and his minions. We're just trying to survive in a world where danger crosses our path everyday. Slytherins are very good at staying alive and right now I know He would kill us the second he saw us. He knows I refused to come to him when my parents died, refused to take up where they left off. I'm just as in danger as you are Hermione," Pansy explained.

"How do I know you're not lying?" Hermione asked, frowning. Pansy rolled up her sleeve to reveal a clean arm.

"I'm not a Death Eater Hermione and my parent's execution were public. You know they died just like everyone else knows," Pansy explained.

"Look, I'm sorry but I don't need your help," Hermione started to the door but suddenly Pansy was right in front of her.

"I watch you, you're very easy to watch," Pansy breathed, looking down for a second. "I know you better than you think. You're unhappy and confused. You are also very angry, you are frustrated and you think you're falling into a trap like all the rest of the good side. Hermione, I want to tell you something. You don't have to feel alone because I know you feel that way. I know both Weasley and Potter feel alone but I am talking to you, not them. You are all that matters to me," Pansy reached forward and brushed her knuckles against Hermione's cheek. She was almost three inches taller than Pansy.

"Why…" Hermione trailed off, Pansy gave her a hot grin.

"Because you are gorgeous," Pansy leaned up, pressing her body against Hermione's. Hermione was shocked into silence and felt immobile as Pansy's arms slowly wound their way around her tightly. She then laid her head on Hermione's shoulder and breathed in deeply.

"I just want you, nothing else," Pansy breathed then slowly stepped back, looked up at her. The door opened behind them and Pansy backed out.

"I guess I'll see you later then," Pansy said then closed the door silently behind her.

Hermione sat down at the lunch table, Ron slowly following after. Then finally Harry wandered in and sat down on the other side of Hermione. Draco walked past their table and sat down with Blaise trailing after him. Pansy then came in and winked at Hermione who blushed and looked away. She then took her seat next to Draco with Blaise on the other side of him. They were six people on the verge of graduating from Hogwarts, six ordinary kids who were about to do extraordinary things for a cause they really didn't know anything about but were forced to believe in anyway.

TBC

Author's note: I had a drag in Torture Victim and this came out because I got tired of writing the same pairings all the time.


	2. Singed

_Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy Estate invites you to attend the Pureblood Annual. Please RSVP through the same owl. My. Malfoy would be delighted if you accepted. He also requests for your company in picking out clothes for the evening. Thank you and we hope to see you there._

Hermione was literally seeing red as she clamored down the stairs and headed straight towards Draco's rooms. She banged loudly on the deep cherry wood and then tapped her foot impatiently, her arms crossed, trying to not start screaming at the top of her lungs for him to come out.

"Looking for me?" Draco asked from the portrait hole entrance the their common room. She whipped around and stomped over to him, getting right up into his face.

"What is the fucking meaning to this?" She shouted, the deep blue parchment in her hand as she shoved it into his chest, he took a step back from her and then looked down. What little color in Draco's face disappeared as he stared at the parchment, he then looked up at her again.

"No…" He breathed, she raised an eyebrow.

"It says you'd be delighted if I accepted, you don't look fucking delighted," she hissed menacingly at him, her warm hazel eyes looking as cold as an ice storm in the middle of Canada.

"Look Hermione, I'm sorry about all of this. You don't have to go…it's…" He trailed off then gently pushed past her, sitting down in front of the merry fire that didn't even warm his toes.

"What is going on? Why did I get this?" She asked, towering over him, the invitation still clutched in her hand.

"Hermione…you aren't a mudblood," He glanced up at her, first there was shock then anger.

"I know my parents!" She exclaimed.

"They aren't your parents!" He got up, she shook her head.

"How the fuck would you know that?" She screeched, Draco took a deep calming breathe.

"Because only Purebloods can go to a fucking pureblood annual you nitwitch," He growled, snapping the invite out of her fingers. "Obviously you aren't part of that stupid muggle family of yours. Obviously you were placed there by someone the same as Harry bleeding Potter was placed in that horrid muggle family of his. You were probably sent there to be protected. Don't you understand anything? Magic doesn't lie," He hissed.

"I would think it does after all the things I've seen Voldemort do," she crossed her arms over her ample chest, Draco threw up his hands and walked away from her.

"Go if you fucking want to. You're the only one that I can go with so make up your mind quickly. Oh and don't forget, we have to match," he said over his shoulder before slamming his door behind him. She fumed silently, feeling her rage course through her before she finally got fully in control over it and went to her room, slamming her own door and collapsing onto her bed. She needed answers but she didn't know who to get them from…

Draco sat down slowly onto his bed, rage ripping through him. He wanted to buckle under such pressure and curl up in his bed, moaning from a feeling that didn't originate from him but from that blasted girl still standing in the common room. He wanted to scream at her to go away, to leave him alone but he knew that she would only ask questions, questions he couldn't possibly answer. He slowly looked up as tapping came from his window, it was a stately and expensive looking owl, probably his own invite to the Pureblood Annual. He wanted to scream at it to go away. His mother had told him all about the Annual ever since he was a young boy, describing it in such a way that he always craved it, always wanted to go. His mother had told him that the perfect Pureblood girl was already picked for him as soon as he was born and that he'll never know who she will be until his invite actually came.

He finally let the bird in and snatched the deep indigo envelope and opened it. It said exactly what Hermione's had said only in reverse. He snorted and let the invite drop onto his bed. He would have been surprised that Hermione wasn't a mudblood if the world hadn't already gone crazy on him. He went to his bathroom and filled up his spa bath, stripping down and letting his legs dangle as the water rose up to meet him. He wanted some peace and quiet for once but all he could hear was Hermione grumbling about her homework…wait, Hermione grumbling…He could hear her as clearly as if she was in the same room. He blinked a couple of times before groaning, he had suddenly turned into a telepath. He wanted to scrub his brain free of all the abnormalities he suddenly inherited from his father. The Malfoys had always been notorious for not being entirely human. Too bad his father died before truly telling him what besides homeo sapien was inside of him. He eased into his bath, trying desperately to breathe in deeply, to find his center and then build up a wall around his brain so he could at least sleep a little bit tonight.

Hermione had patrol that night, she found herself walking down towards the Astronomy Tower when she spotted movement from one of the alcoves behind a set of armor. She slowly snuck up to it and was just about to expose the snogging couple when she recognized Ron's deep red hair. She froze, wasn't Ron supposed to be in love with her? She took a sharp intake as it registered that the person Ron was passionately kissing was not a girl, in fact it was a Slytherin. She dissolved into the shadows, curious as to why Ron of all people would be kissing Blaise Zabini. Had he finally flown completely off his rocker? They all knew he was getting a bit eccentric but this was complete madness. Suddenly Ron stumbled away from Blaise, his hand over his burning lips.

"What are we doing?" Ron asked the other, Blaise leaned against the wall next to the alcove they were just inhabiting.

"What does it feel like?" Blaise finally asked.

"I think…I need to go, right now," Ron hurried past the rust red headed Slytherin but he was having none of that. He snapped his hand out and latched onto Ron's upper arm, halting the other.

"Oh no you don't…you're the one that came onto me," Blaise grinned evilly, whipping the other around.

"I think I was going a little crazy, you know with the stress and everything," Ron sounded slightly hysterical. At least he wasn't talking in riddles like he had gotten into the habit of lately.

"Aw…is little Ronnie-kins going to run off and hide in a corner away from what he really is? Is he going to cry because he's a little-" Blaise had an evil grin set on his impish features.

"Don't you dare say it," Ron growled darkly, advancing on the other.

"Say what? That you're nothing but a cute piece of ass?" Blaise crossed his arms over his chest, raising his eyebrow at the other in a very becoming manner.

"That's not what you were going to say and you know it," Ron held his finger up warningly.

"Fine, Ron Weasley, you are a poof the same as I am and there's no denying who you are," Blaise said with a very Draco-like smirk.

"I hate you," Ron bit back.

"Let me tell you exactly what you are doing, you are searching for a stress reliever, you want to find someone who will curl up next to you and not tell anyone the next morning. You don't want some gossipy bitch like Lavender Brown to tell the whole school how good or horrible you are. You don't want the drama of a relationship and you definitely don't want something ordinary. You want something you can hold onto and you think you can hold onto me even though we are in a real live war here and you can't hold onto anything but you'll try. You want me to make it all better well let me tell you something Ronald Weasley, nothing is going to truly make it better. You will still feel sick in the morning just like you have for the last month, you will feel like you don't want to live one more day but you will have me and that is all I can offer you," Blaise explained bluntly. "Either take it or turn around and walk back the way you came because I am not giving you a second chance." Silence permeated the hallway for a long time before Ron slowly walked towards Blaise and slid his arms around the other. Blaise simply held Ron before leading the other past Hermione and down the stairs. Hermione was smiling with out even realizing it.

She then looked towards the Astronomy Tower and the smile slowly vanished. She didn't really want to lose the small happiness swirling around her stomach. Finally it looked like one of them was going to be okay. She finally took a deep breathe and walked towards the spiral staircase leading up. She slowly opened the door and looked around, she didn't see any one but she wanted to make sure Harry hadn't come up here again. She slowly closed the door behind her and walked around the balcony, nothing. She sighed and leaned over the battlement, looking out onto the moonlit grounds, everything had a silvery glow…a sense of peace washed over her for the first time in a long time. Suddenly she heard a soft clatter of metal striking the ground. She spun around but saw nothing, she then looked closer and spotted a thin piece of metal laying on the ground. A cold hand suddenly wrapped itself around her heart. She numbly walked towards it and picked it up, it was a razor blade. She reached forward and pulled off the invisibility cloak revealing Harry curled up against the wall, shivering. He slowly looked up at her, extremely pale.

"Harry?" She breathed, he slowly reached towards her, his unnaturally pale hand shaking, then she saw it, blood everywhere and it was all his. Stained his sweater and pants and dripped from his shirt cuffs. She gathered him to her body, not caring that his blood was washing over her as she picked him up. She was surprised at how light he was.

"Hermione…no, leave me," he rasped into her ear as she hurried down the stairs, trying not to slip in his blood. She wasn't thinking, just was on auto as she ran down towards the infirmrary. She burst through the door and Madam Pomfrey looked up from a book. She instantly stood and gingerly took Harry from her.

"Sit down child," Pomfrey instructed her as she turned to lay Harry on the nearest bed. Hermione tried to swipe at the tears running down her cheeks, not knowing that she had smeared blood all over her face in the process. She was still so numb and cold at seeing Harry lay in that white bed, not moving at all. His eyes were closed and his breathing barely noticeable. She wanted to scream, something. It didn't feel right to just sit there and watch him slowly fade away. Why hadn't she just kept going? Why had she stayed and watched Ron and Blaise tussle? Why hadn't she felt some kind of alert? She felt like she had somehow betrayed her best friend by not getting there fast enough, by not knowing instinctively that he was dying. Soon Pomfrey had him comfortably tucked into his bed, completely bandaged up and in a clean medical gown. She then turned to Hermione, performing a cleaning spell so she wouldn't have to walk back to her dorm covered in blood.

"It's okay my dear. He'll be fine, you got to him just in time," she murmured, pulling Hermione up into a motherly hug, she squeezed her eyes tightly closed, feeling that same desperate rage start to build up in her stomach. She finally managed to say goodnight to the nurse and leave. She felt so completely exhausted that she didn't notice that Draco was studying on the couch when she had walked by to go to her room.

"You look like shit Granger," Draco commented, Hermione stopped and slowly looked over at the other.

"I hate you! You are the most slimiest, horrible creature I have ever laid eyes on! You never think about anyone else, you are the most selfish, egotistical brat I have ever had the displeasure to ever come in contact with. You are nothing, nothing at all and you will never be anything. You will never grow up and you will die knowing that your life is meaningless," she screamed at him, she finally dissolved into raw screams punctuated by long drawn in sobs as she slowly sunk to the floor, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Draco hopped over the couch and tried to put his arms around her but she shoved away from him, literally crawling in the other direction that she had sent him to.

"Hermione!" Draco shouted, crawling after her and tackling her, she screamed again, trying to hit him but he held on as her fists pounded his chest weakly. She was too caught up in her own emotions to physically put anything behind it.

"Calm down, please," He held her even closer, trying to just force her into accepting his hug, she finally relaxed, leaning against him as he rocked him slightly.

"All my fault," she said between deep sobs.

"No it's not, none of it is your fault," He breathed into her silk hair, trying to calm her down mentally also.

"He almost died! He-" Hermione shouted, trying to push him away again.

"But he's still alive isn't he? You saved him, you got there in time. You can't be everywhere at once," Draco murmured soothingly.

"Should have known," she pouted, her arms were snaking around him as she leaned fully against him. Soon she was calm, her arms tightly wrapped around Draco as he rocked them lightly.

"Are you humming?" She asked, looking up at him, Draco shrugged.

"Do you want me to stop?" He asked, she snuggled up to him some more.

"No, it's comforting," She murmured, closing her eyes.

"I don't think the floor is very comforting though," Draco pointed out, she blinked open her eyes then blushed, pulling away from him.

"Sorry," She got up and dusted herself off, Draco following.

"No, it's fine," Draco shrugged and turned away.

"I didn't mean what I said," she started.

"You did, you meant every word and you're right or you would have been about four months ago but something big happened," Draco sat down on the couch and curled his feet underneath him as Hermione followed and sat down next to him.

"He was an amazing person," Hermione breathed.

"I wish I could have seen past my own goals, my own family," Draco breathed, looking into the fire.

"We all get pretty blind sometimes, it's a part of life," Hermione pointed out.

"But I was more than blind, I was refusing to see anything. I wasn't just ignorant," He looked over at her, she really was beautiful and elegant. Something he prized in all creatures but she could pull it off exceptionally well.

"What?" She asked, smiling slightly.

"Harry Potter is a very lucky person," Draco told her, she tilted her head slightly in question.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"He's got you as a best friend," Draco gave her an actual smile, it was warm and fragile.

"What about Blaise and Pansy? They don't seem so bad now that they aren't rampaging around like stuck up rich kids," Hermione returned his smile.

"They are fine but Pansy would faint at the sight of blood and Blaise wouldn't have been much better. No you've got guts," Draco pointed out, Hermione frowned darkly.

"I never told you what happened with Harry or…even that I was with Harry," she murmured, looking to him for an explanation. Draco suddenly felt like he wanted to bang his head against the wall.

"Just a guess…I mean he's not stable, anyone can see that and you looked like you had just done something heroic…" Draco tried to keep the nervous stammer out of his voice.

"Do you think me that dense to believe that lame excuse? How'd you know? Were you there?" She asked.

"Well I saw you on your way down to the hospital wing," Draco latched onto her idea, she nodded slightly, looking to the fire in contemplation.

"What were you doing out of the rooms so late?" She asked.

"I was on my way to finish up some astronomy homework," he answered.

"But you don't take astronomy," she blinked, frowning even deeper, he wanted to disappear. He was never a good liar when it came to stuff he didn't really understand about himself. He could convince the Dark Lord that the sky was deep red and that Harry Potter willingly turned himself into a monkey but when it came to lying about his unknown abilities…he had no real clue how to cover them up.

"Okay look, I don't know why but I can feel what other people feel and lately, as in the last day or so I'm suddenly able to read minds. It's unnerving and I don't know why I can. I don't even know what I am," Draco ranted, Hermione just stared at him.

"I don't know how to answer that," she said bluntly.

"Then don't, just forget I ever said anything and I promise to stay out of your mind as best I can but sometimes I can't block things because they're too emotional. I'm not fully trained so I can't block everything out," Draco explained.

"I never thought," Hermione trailed off, looking away from him.

"Don't worry, I won't pry into your head. Trust me, I'd rather not," Draco got up and started towards his room.

"I accept," Hermione said, Draco stopped and turned around.

"What?" He asked.

"I accept, I'll go with you to this Pureblood Annual," she clarified, looking up at him, he slowly let his smile come back onto his face.

"Then we'll go shopping tomorrow," Draco told her and disappeared into his room.

TBC


End file.
